In electronic part seller websites, I see that there are two separate categories for opamps and comparators. As far as I know, an opamp itself is already a comparator if you don't connect a negative feed back and run it in the open loop mode. So, what are these "comparators" exactly? What makes them different than ordinary opamps? When should I prefer a comparator over an opamp?
Asked
Active
Viewed 1,034 times
12
-
My understanding was a comparator is sort of a yes/no voltage output device. Meaning you output one value or another based on a comparison. Whereas an op-amp is used for several other applications like buffers, inverters, amplifiers, etc. I found this article which goes into greater detail (http://encon.fke.utm.my/nikd/latest/sloa067.pdf). Did you have a questions more beyond the scope of that article? – Shabab Nov 14 '13 at 18:16
1 Answers
16
Opamps are optimized for linear operation, in which the voltage difference between the input terminals is kept very small via feedback. As a consequence, the performance when using them in a nonlinear or open-loop application tends to be poor. In particular, charge storage on internal nodes tends to cause opamps to respond very slowly when coming out of an "input saturated" condition.
On the other hand, comparators are optimized for speed at the expense of linearity, and are designed specifically to be fast over a wide range of differential input voltages.
Dave Tweed
- 172,781
- 17
- 234
- 402